DDLA

DLA Headquarters

8725 John J Kingman Road

 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060 DLASBIR2@dla.mil email 

Defense Logistics Agency

“The Nation’s Combat Logistics Support Agency”

To support DLA’s strategic line of effort to Modernize Acquisition and Supply Chain Management, SBIP engages with industry to

develop quality solutions addressing industrial base and supply chain vulnerabilities. Priorities include addressing limited 

sources for weapons system parts, supply chain risk mitigation, foreign dependence on critical materials, and decreased U.S. 

industrial base manufacturing capabilities. Through competitive awards, SBIP identifies small businesses capable of developing

and transitioning reverse and value engineered parts, advanced manufacturing techniques, domestic sources of supply, and

supply chain risk reduction technologies that either meet or exceed current military or industry standards. To qualify new

sources for weapons systems parts, SBIP, Engineering Support Activities and small businesses work through the Source

Approval Request (SAR) – a rigorous qualification process used to approve a business as a source of supply for critical parts.

Likewise, small businesses developing domestic sources of supply, advanced manufacturing techniques and supply chain risk

reduction technologies partner with industry to define requirements and integrate innovations through DoD programs of

record. SBIP’s collaborative, high-standard approach to validating small business solutions ensures innovations are relevant to

real-world customer requirements, and with transition, integrates industry best practices into the defense supply chain.

SUPPORTING READINESS THROUGH INNOVATION

 SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION DOMESTIC SOURCES SUPPLY CHAIN ASSURANCE

Defense Logistics Agency Research & Development

Strategic Materials. Rare Earth 

Elements (REEs) are a classification of 

seventeen elements on the periodic 

table that have unique geochemical 

properties critical to major weapons 

systems. Foreign dependence on REE 

renders DoD vulnerable to politicallydriven supply chain disruptions. By 

developing trusted domestic sources, 

DLA will reduce dependence on foreign 

sources, thereby reducing quality 

concerns and non-competitive costs. 

SBIP is funding the development of 

domestic suppliers for critical REEs and 

derived parts, such as magnets.

Anti-Counterfeit. Foreign sources of 

supply within the defense supply chain

exposes DoD to damaging disruptions

in supply chain operations that can 

cost time, money and lives. Without 

secure authentication and end-to-end 

traceability technologies, DoD cannot 

effectively or efficiently identify nonconforming supplies or where a critical 

breach occurred. SBIP is evaluating 

industrial base best practices for 

supply chain security as well as

funding a series of anti-counterfeit

and track-and-trace solutions based 

on industry standards. 

Additive Manufacturing (AM). AM is 

an efficient supply chain solution to 

low-demand parts with long lead times 

and costly production processes; but 

the rapid advancement and adoption 

of AM within the defense supply chain 

requires a standard to certify AM parts 

for the same quality and performance 

as the conventionally manufactured 

part. To streamline AM build quality 

and repeatability SBIP funded a 

collaborative effort to develop an 

advanced in-situ monitoring sensor 

suite and process alongside an OEM 

and DoD subject matter experts. 
DDLA

DLA Headquarters

8725 John J Kingman Road

 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060 DLASBIR2@dla.mil email 

Defense Logistics Agency

“The Nation’s Combat Logistics Support Agency”

PRIMARY RESEARCH THRUST OBJECTIVES

Additive Manufacturing (AM) 

Technologies and Materials: 

Improve repeatability and build 

quality for AM metal 

components, with insitu process 

monitoring and control 

technologies for both Laser 

Powder Bed Fusion and Directed Energy Deposition 

methods. Create a domestic supply of high performance, 

high temperature advanced metal powders from industrial 

waste streams.

Rare Earth Separations: Develop 

domestic commercial production 

of rare earth oxides from 

industrial waste feedstock. A rare 

earths supply chain in the U.S.

will reduce reliance on foreign 

sources, ensure availability and

lower costs versus standard process manufacturing.

Rare Earth Magnets: Expand

domestic capacity for recycled 

NdFeb rare earth magnets to 

reduce foreign dependence on 

items critical to weapons 

systems maintenance and 

sustainment. A domestic source will mitigate single-source

price increases and supply disruptions. 

Domestic Sources of Critical 

Metals and Materials: 

Demonstrate metals and 

materials recovery processes 

with reliable production and 

quality compliance to reduce 

foreign dependance and cost.

Microelectronics Tracking and 

Security: Address a critical 

defense need to tag

microelectronic circuit boards 

from cradle-to-grave. With a 

single anti-counterfeit, trackand-trace and data storage 

technology, OEMs can ensure provenance, and movement 

throughout the supply chain through disposition.

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

More information about the Small Business Innovation 

Program can be found on the SBIP Website: 

http://www.dla.mil/SmallBusiness/SmallBusinessInnovatio

nPrograms/

A schedule of solicitations and topics released by all DoD 

components (Broad Agency Announcements (BAA)), can 

be found on the DoD SBIR/STTR website, the Defense 

Innovation Portal:

https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login

Carefully review the instructions. Evaluate the topic 

content and reach out to the SBIP program management 

team within the first 30 days from the announcement date 

for questions or clarifications.

At minimum, proposals are evaluated on: 1) The relevance 

of the innovation to the DLA requirement; 2) Technical 

sufficiency, facilities and SOW feasibility; 3) Qualifications 

of the PI and supporting staff; 4) The potential of 

technology for transition to a program of record; and 5) 

Cost. 

A small business can distinguish themselves among the 

competing proposals by including: 6) A business case 

analysis; 7) A strategy and a plan to transition the 

innovation to a government program of record; and 8) An 

industrial partner that will qualify the innovation for the 

DoD supply chain and connect the innovation with a 

government program of record. OEM letters of 

endorsement and/or in-kind support are recommended.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 

DLASBIR2@dla.mil